The Flying Fish (Exocoetidae)|| Finnick Odair X Fem!OC

Day One

The platform rises up and the sudden light momentarily blinds Cress. She glances around at her surroundings, noting the tall trees and winding paths between them. The trees are tightly packed, with barely any space between them. A sort of maze? A labyrinth maybe?

She doesn't freaking know at this point. The other tributes look just as confused as Cress, but they all have the desperation in their eyes, a desperation that makes them deadly.

"One minute." The timer on the cornucopia starts counting down. She glances over at Ferric, who nods.

"Fifty, forty nine, forty eight, forty seven.." That damn voice is counting down and grating on her nerves. Cress glances up towards the sky, wondering if Finnick could see her right now.

"Thirty six, thirty five, thirty four..."

"Cress!" Ferric shouts her name, diverting her attention. She glances towards him and notices that he's motioning towards something. She looks towards the cornucopia and sees the catch bar waiting for her along with the ropes. She also sees the knives and the speargun.

"Go for it." she nods at him, mouthing the words. He nods in recognition and focuses back on the cornucopia.

"Twenty two, twenty one, twenty, nineteen.." One of the tributes, one from District 5, stumbles and falls off the pedestal. A loud boom resonates as he's immediately blown to bits. She winces when she hears the sound, doing her best to not look at the hole where the former tribute had been that was now just tiny chunks of flesh.

"Ten, nine, eight.."

She refocuses on the cornucopia, focusing on the backpacks filled with supplies. Ferric would get the weapons, she would get the supplies. Win win situation in her opinion.

"Five, four, three, two, one. Let the 67th Hunger Games begin." The buzzer goes off and everyone starts running. Ferric and Cress meet up at the cornucopia, grabbing the things they said they would. The cannon goes off several times, the Careers claiming about 5 kills. They stop when they reach Ferric and Cress.

"Allies?" Cliff asks, holding out his hand. Cress glances at Ferric, who shakes his head.

"No, thanks," she responds, shaking her head. Velora's eyes narrow, her grip tightening around the dagger she was carrying.

"No problem." Cliff nods. "Kill you later then."

"Kill you later." Ferric and Cress run off into a part of the twisting maze, down the narrow path between the trees.

"What the hell is this arena?" Ferric mutters, glancing around.

"Ferric, can you climb?" Cress asks.

"Uh, maybe?" his eyebrows furrow. An axe whizzes by Cress' side and embeds itself in the tree beside her. Ferric's eyes narrow as he turns to see the District 7 girl who'd just thrown an axe at them. He loads up his speargun and fires, nailing her in the arm. She rips it out and runs away before he can shoot her again.

"Cress, oh my god, are you okay?" he asks, looking back over at her. She nods, ripping the axe out of the tree and hiding it in a bush. "What are you doing?"

"Hiding it so other people can't use it." she shrugs. "Now come on." She grabs the knives from her belt and digs them into the bark of the tree, pulling herself up. She climbs up until she reaches the branches and sheathes the knives. "Wait are you waiting for Ferric, come on."

Ferric uses his knives and follows her up the tree, going a little slower than she had. He eventually makes it up and sits down beside her. "How the hell did you climb up here so fast?" he asks, wheezing slightly.

"I have a lot of upper body strength?" she shrugs. "Trapeze is a lot of upper body strength since you're hanging onto a bar for dear life."

"I see." Ferric nods wisely. Cress motions for him to be quiet as the group of Careers walk by.

"Come on, they went this way." Velora says, tugging Cliff along. The two from District 2, Morrel and Chrysa, were following them and whispering to themselves.

"Why are we hunting them again?" Morrel asks, rolling his eyes.

"Cause they scored better than all of us and that makes them a threat," Cliff snaps. "We need to get rid of both of them." Ferric aims his speargun at them but Cress shakes her head.

"Not now," she whispers to him.

"But isn't Ferric the only real threat?" Chrysa asks. "I mean, Cress just doesn't seem all that strong."

"She's strong. She got a ten for a reason Chrysa. Plus, she's smart. She's the brains of the operation, and Ferric's the brawn. And if we want to win, they have to go." Velora frowns. "Don't underestimate either of them."

Their voices fade as they head off into the distance, down the path through the maze.

"Lovely," Cress mutters once they're out of earshot. "We need to get as far as possible from here."

"Shouldn't we go after them?" Ferric frowns. "We can get them all right off the bat."

"What the hell, no way!" she exclaims. "That's a suicide mission! They outnumber us, two to one, and they're still very deadly. Just cause we have better scores doesn't mean they won't gut us like fish."

"Noted," he mumbles. "What should we do then?"

"Find somewhere to sleep. Preferably somewhere sheltered. Come on, we gotta get down now." She climbed down and waited for Ferric to join her at the base of the tree. "Jeez, you're either really slow or I'm just really fast."

"Shut up." he groans, following her through the maze. They walk past the cornucopia and into a different entrance of the maze, on the lookout for other tributes.

"Ferric, do you hear that?" she whispers.

"Yeah, I do." he nods, glancing around. It was a low rumbling sound that echoed all around the arena. Suddenly the ground starts shaking and then, somehow, the trees start moving.

The maze was shifting.

"Ferric!" she shouts as the trees separate them.

"Cress! Cress, are you okay?" he shouts.

"I'm fine, are you?" she responds.

"Cut my leg but I'm pretty good for the most part! Shit, you have all the supplies!" Ferric shouts.

"You're right. Hold on, I'm coming over." Cress climbs up the trees and looks down on the opposite side for Ferric. She sees him about a meter away from where she was perched and about 10 feet down. "Ferric, up here!"

"Cress! Hey!" he smiles widely. "Come on down, will ya?" She hurriedly climbs down the trees to where he was waiting, landing hard on her left leg.

"Ow." she mutters. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"I heard them yelling, this way!" she hears Cliff shouting from far away.

"Shit, we gotta go." Cress grabs Ferric's arm, dragging him down the path in a sprint.

"Dammit." Ferric glances behind them as Cress tugs him along.

"In here!" she shoves him into a space between the roots of a tree, covering his mouth with her hand. "Stay quiet, got it?" Ferric nods, unable to speak due to the hand over his mouth. About fifteen minutes later, the Careers thunder past, their footsteps heavy and loud.

"They must have gone this way." Velora points in a different direction and they all take off.

Stupid Careers.